“PIVOT!”
One of the most well-known scenes from the television series, Friends, is from an episode in season five. In this scene, Ross has bought a new couch for his apartment, but he doesn’t want to pay the delivery fee. He enlists Rachel and Chandler to help him carry the couch up the stairwell to his place. Hilarity ensues as the angles of the stairwell make it impossible to move the bulky furniture. Ross is seen yelling, “Pivot! Pivot!” as they awkwardly become stuck on the stairs.
The last few weeks we’ve been pivoting a lot around here. When our music director Valerie experienced an unexpected health crisis a few Sundays ago, “PIVOT!” Aggie was miraculously in town and jumped in to play the piano on the spot and the choir selected a simpler hymn to sing for the anthem. And so began the search for folks to fill in while Valerie is away. Linda Jean has graciously agreed to play frequently and taken the reigns in rallying the choir. I’ve made a solid list of possible hymns for the next few weeks and organized substitute musicians. Furthermore, Isabelle has kept the bell choir informed and organized a practice the last two weeks. We were even able to get Valerie on Zoom to guide them. Oddly enough, she could hear us speaking but not the bells playing!? “PIVOT!” Turns out, FaceTime worked better.
This was a fun, full Sunday as we welcomed new members and held a baptism, all while celebrating a Kirkin’ o’ the Tartans Sunday! Aggie returned and the bell choir played beautifully. We also had a bagpiper, Kathy Boyer, in the house! I was up early reading over the order of worship and making a list of all the things that needed to happen before 11:00 AM: set up the camera, pass out family tartan banners, fill a pitcher with warm water…and then the phone rang. It was Jeanne, it turns out she and Thad are under the weather. Jeanne was set to be the grilled cheese master for our soup & sandwich lunch after church! “PIVOT!” I quickly reached out to Kathy & Linda who graciously agreed to step in. Fortunately, after church there were at least six ladies in the kitchen bustling about. Thank you, Jesus!
All to say, there have been a few moments where I was worried I would be like Ross, pinned to the wall by the proverbial couch, but fortunately I’ve had wonderful folks to help me pivot. These are prime examples of what church should be. Individuals come together, bringing their gifts to a situation for the greater good of the community. And I want to point out that any outsider coming in today would never have known about these hiccups. The worship service and fellowship went smoothly and were full of joy, no matter how chaotic we may have felt behind the scenes. But, I wanted to say thank you to everyone at New Providence who always make everything happen as a team. God is good!